Italy Sanremo: Semi-final tonight

After two heats and the "Covers Night" in the Italian selection, Sanremo, we have now come to the Semi-final, where we will find the 16 contestants for tomorrows final of Sanremo 2016. Sanremo is spread over five evenings, and the selected artists will compete in two different sections: Campioni (Big Artists) and Nuove Proposte (Newcomers).

Twenty songs will compete in the Big Artists section and eight songs will compete in the Newcomers'
section. All the songs in the competition are required to be new compositions performed in Italian language with some exceptions for words and phrases in other dialects/languages.

Sanremo 2016 schedule

Heat 1
Tuesday, 9 February
The first show featured ten Big Artists. These ten songs were voted upon by a 50% press jury and a 50% televote. No eliminations.

Heat 2
Wednesday, 10 February

The same voting system was used in the second show, where the other ten Big Artists performed. There were no eliminations during these two shows, and therefore all the twenty songs advanced to the fourth evening - the semi-final. No eliminations.

Covers night
Thursday, 11 February
Thursday was the "Covers Night" where each act of the Campioni performed a cover of an Italian song or an international hit translated into Italian. The best cover, as determined by the equal combination of votes from a press jury and a public televote, was awarded a prize. No eliminations.

Semi-final
Friday, 12 February
The 20 acts will compete for a place in the Final on Saturday. The voting procedure during the semi-final will be of 40% televote, 30% expert jury and 30% demoscopic poll. The weighted average of the votes from the first and second evenings as well as the votes from the fourth evening will produce a total ranking of all of the songs. The top 15 entries will qualify directly to the final held on Saturday. The bottom five entries from the fourth evening will enter a repechage round (a Second Chance round), and face an additional public televote to determine the one entry that will be readmitted to compete in the final; the other four entries will be eliminated. 16 qualifiers – 4 eliminations.

Final
Saturday, 13 February
In the final, a total of 16 songs will be competing. The top three will advance to a second round of voting in order to select the winner. The results of both rounds of voting will be determined by a 40% televote, 30% expert jury and 30% demoscopic poll.

Campioni, Heat 1:

Big Artists section, 9 February 2016
Running order

1. Lorenzo Fragola – "Infinite volte"
2. Noemi – "La borsa di una donna"
3. Dear Jack – "Mezzo respiro"
4. Deborah Iurato & Giovanni Caccamo – "Via da qui"
5. Stadio – "Un giorno mi dirai"
6. Arisa – "Guardando il cielo"
7. Enrico Ruggeri – "Il primo amore non si scorda mai"
8. Bluvertigo – "Semplicemente"
9. Rocco Hunt – "Wake Up"
10. Irene Fornaciari – "Blu"

Campioni, Heat 2:

Big Artists section, 10 February 2016

• Alessio Bernabei – "Noi siamo infinito"
• Annalisa – "Il diluvio Universale"
• Clementino – "Quando sono lontano"
• Dolcenera – "Ora o mai più"
• Elio e le Storie Tese – "Vincere l'odio"
• Francesca Michielin – "Nessun grado di separazione"
• Neffa – "Sogni e Nostalgia"
• Patty Pravo – "Cieli immensi"
• Valerio Scanu – "Finalmente piove"
• Zero Assoluto – "Di me e di te"

The Voting

Voting during the five evenings will occur through different combinations. The below explains all of the different methods:

1. Public televoting – Landline, mobile phone, app, online voting
2. Press jury – Accredited journalists that will follow the competition
3. Expert jury – Eight personalities from the world of music, entertainment and culture
4. Demoscopic poll – A sample of 300 music fans, which will vote from their homes via an electronic voting system

What about the Newcomers?

The eight entries competing in the Newcomers' section will be divided into four semi-final duels consisting of two songs each. Two duels will take place during both the second and third evenings on the 10th and 11th February. The winner of each duel, as determined by the equal combination of votes from a press jury and a public televote, will advance to the final held during the fourth evening on the 12th February. During the final, the four entries will compete and the winner will be determined via the combination of a 40% televote, 30% expert jury and 30% demoscopic poll.

Italy in Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision 2016 will be Italy's 42nd contest. They have won twice, in 1964 with the song "Non Ho L'étà" and in 1990 with "Insieme: 1992". Worst result was in 1966 where they went last. Most known song is "Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu" or better known as "Volare" from 1958. It is also the most covered Eurovision Song Contest song. The song has been covered by famous stars such as Dean Martin, Cliff Richard, David Bowie and many more...

Italy had a long pause from Eurovision Song Contest from 1998 to 2010. Since then Italy has been a "Big-5"-country, automatically qualified for every years Grand Final.

Last year, Italy achieved 3rd place, and were represented by the group Il Volo with their song "Grande Amore".